Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Exorcism:
Director James Comey has pronounced the FBI satisfied that –
despite using not one but a series of private email servers for her
government business and not archiving various records as old servers
were “decommissioned in various ways”, and despite destroying at
least 30,000 of the 60,000 that survived these various adventures –
the remaining 30,000 emails contained no incriminating evidence of
intent to commit the multiplicity of crimes she and her agents
committed. While the statues do not consider intent in the definition
of the crimes, Hillary gets a pass because there was no “clear
evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate
laws… there is abundant
evidence that they did so.”
The investigation was not aimed at what had been hidden or destroyed,
which is where the corruption would have been. Nor did the FBI ask
NSA for their copies of Ms Clinton's emails, which they most
certainly have. Even
so, the Bureau is
confident that “computer intrusion by hostile actors” was likely,
if unproven. Presto, the toothpaste
is back in the tube and
Bill's
excellent adventure was unnecessary. Or perhaps very successful.

[Short
Form:
Did former Secretary of State and putative Ruler of the World Hillary
Clinton commit what for normal people would be considered crimes and
misdemeanors? Yes, at minimum by destroying government records. Will
she be prosecuted? No, because the records she did not destroy
contain no evidence of intent to commit any crimes.]

Asked
& Obvious:
Does the day-care-for-adults 'security' at our airports enhance our
security, or does it simply motivate would-be mass killers to seek
less protected targets?

Carousel:
Since the Fed nudged up the effective federal funds rate last
December, long term rates have kept falling. The yield curve (10-year
rates – two-year rates) has become negative. Banks, whose business
is to borrow short and lend long, do not prosper in such an
environment. Every recession in the last 40 years has been closely
preceded by a negative yield curve. Does 'closely preceded' sound a
lot like 'imminent'?

Noted:
Weakness in capital goods orders, which were weak in May, reflect a
reluctance of businesses to invest in capital goods, which comes from
a decided weakness in business' expectations. The inventory of
unfulfilled
orders
is negative y/y.

Caged: Brexit may be the
forerunner of a much broader backlash against the EU's “free
trade” anti-labor rules, the area's growing migration problems,
and the authoritarian high-handedness of unelected elites. France,
Italy and Denmark are the
likely next canaries to keel over..

Hazard
Pay::
Since 2007 the US has
added about 10 million renter households while home ownership has
stagnated – the 7 million foreclosures offsetting new purchases.
Since 1960 inflation-adjusted rents are up 64% while real incomes are
up only 18%.

Clarification:The first black
slaves arrived in what
is now the United States in 1619. The
enslavement of the native Indians followed apace. In 1776 the US was
founded as the first
apartheid state. The
freedom sought by the colonial 1% was for them, the masters and
owners. Their revolution was designed to change the names running
things, not the social-economic system.

Our
Town:“Orphanages are often
run as businesses, the children being the assets.”

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.